President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday bowed and apologized to political dissidents and their families for the abuses of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government during the White Terror era, adding that he would handle such matters more delicately after some dissidents criticized the government for embellishing the Taiwan Human Rights Memorial Park with contentious art.
Speaking at the park’s opening ceremony yesterday morning, Ma said the location, which used to house the Jingmei military detention center, witnessed the development of democracy in Taiwan.
Ma also pledged to take more action to protect human rights.
PHOTO: CNA
“These human rights and democracy fighters played important roles in Taiwan’s history. I am here to give my sincerest apology to those victims who were wrongly accused and persecuted,” Ma said at the ceremony.
Taipei’s Jingmei military detention center was used to hold political dissidents during the White Terror era and after the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979 before they were sent to prison or to be executed.
The White Terror era covers the period when martial law was declared on May 19, 1949, and July 15, 1987, when it was lifted. The Kaohsiung Incident refers to Dec. 10, 1979, when the KMT government cracked down and imprisoned participants in an anti-government parade organized by Formosa Magazine.
Some of the dissidents and their family members, including former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and Chen Chia-chun (陳嘉君), wife of former political prisoner Shih Ming-teh (施明德), were invited to attend the ceremony yesterday.
Chen was arrested on Thursday for trying to damage an art display to protest against what she said represented the government’s efforts to honor the old KMT regime. She criticized artist Yu Wen-fu (游文富) for commemorating Wang Hsi-ling (汪希苓), former head of the Military Intelligence Bureau, by displaying his work where Wang was kept under house arrest for ordering the murder of Chinese-American writer Henry Liu (劉宜良) in 1984.
Ma yesterday acknowledged the government’s lack of understanding and respect for the victims’ feelings and said he would ensure that such matters are handled more appropriately.
Chen Chia-chun left the ceremony immediately after Ma made his speech and remained critical of his administration.
“Ma says one thing and does another … The government wasted money and invited artists to commemorate a killer in the park. How is that supposed to make us, the victims and their families, feel?” she said.
Outside the ceremony, several protesters shouted “Ma Ying-jeou is not qualified to talk about human rights!” and protested against Ma’s participation at the ceremony.
After the ceremony, Lu, who was among those who were detained at the center, walked with Ma around the park and showed him the cell where she was held.
“If you have heard people praise Taiwan as a nation that protects human rights, you should feel ashamed because the regime you served failed to do that,” she told Ma.
“You were working in the Presidential Office when I was in prison … Human rights is not about lip service but countless lives,” she said.
Ma acknowledged that the then government was “inhumane” for refusing to allow Lu to attend the funeral service of her mother, adding that his administration would work harder to protect human rights and restore historical truths.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique